Josh Reddick has not recovered his hitting stroke of two years ago, but his glove keeps him in the lineup.

Photo: Marcio Jose Sanchez, Associated Press

Josh Reddick has not recovered his hitting stroke of two years ago,...

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A's right fielder Josh Reddick, (16) climbs the fence to rob Giants' slugger Michael Morse, (38) of a home run in the second inning, as the San Francisco Giants take on the Oakland Athletics in a spring training game at Scottsdale Stadium, in Scottsdale, Arizona on Wednesday Feb. 26, 2014. (Michael Macor/The Chronicle)

Photo: Michael Macor, The Chronicle

A's right fielder Josh Reddick, (16) climbs the fence to rob...

Image 3 of 4

A's right fielder Josh Reddick, (16) climbs the fence to rob Giants' slugger Michael Morse, (38) of a home run in the second inning, as the San Francisco Giants take on the Oakland Athletics in a spring training game at Scottsdale Stadium, in Scottsdale, Arizona on Wednesday Feb. 26, 2014.

Josh Reddick of the Oakland Athletics makes a diving catch on a soft line drive by Matt Dominguez #30 of the Houston Astros in the second inning at Minute Maid Park on April 27, 2014 in Houston, Texas.

Josh Reddick, a fan of pro wrestling, where nicknames are essential, could use a good one. How about bringing back Death To Flying Things?

That was the nickname of Bob Ferguson, who played in the late 1800s, earning the moniker with slick glove work.

Seems like a fitting nickname for Reddick, who won a Gold Glove two seasons ago and finished second to Boston's Shane Victorino last season when Reddick, with a wrist injury, struggled at bat and missed 48 games.

Reddick's bat hasn't come back, but he is still fielding at an elite level.

Early in spring training Reddick went fence climbing to steal two home runs from the Giants' Michael Morse. The first was so crazily dramatic that the A's Mr. Highlight says it was the best catch of his life.

That double robbery of Morse might seem wasted in a spring training game, but maybe it set a defiant defensive tone for the A's - Is that all you got? - and for Reddick himself, coming off that down season.

Reddick has been at his pit-bull best in right field this season, attacking every ball with a vengeance.

"The other day he climbs the wall and takes away a potential three-run double," manager Bob Melvin said. "For me, that counts like an offensive play, it's just like hitting a three-run double."

Is it fair to say Melvin would have put the .217-hitting Reddick on the bench a lot more often if not for his glove?

"No doubt about it," Melvin said.

When you rely on pitching like the A's do, you take great comfort in having Reddick's skill and zeal in right field.

"When the ball's hit," Melvin says, "you look up from the dugout, there is no deer-in-headlights. He's always in a full sprint after the ball. He reads the ball very well, he knows the spin on the ball. ... It's stuff that you can't teach, you either get it through experience or you just have it in your DNA, and he has that in his DNA."

First-base coach Ty Waller, who works with A's outfielders, refers to Reddick's "will to want to make plays. That passion, that drive, that commitment ... Some of that is just born in you. This guy has been a force for us."

Reddick's Gold Glove in 2012 was the first for an A's player since third baseman Eric Chavez's sixth straight in 2006, and it was the first for an A's outfielder since Dwayne Murphy's sixth in a row in 1985.

Reddick would like to add to his collection but sees two possible roadblocks. Victorino batted .294 to Reddick's .226 last season, and the managers and coaches who vote for the award might lean slightly toward the superior hitter. (About 25 percent of the award is based purely on sabermetrics.)

Also, Reddick says that since his Gold Glove season, runners have stopped testing him, depriving him of opportunities to impress voters with gun-'em-down heroics. It irks Reddick that until this season runners never stopped testing the noted rifle arm of Jeff Francoeur.

"You watch TV and every other day Francoeur's throwing somebody out; they're still running on him," Reddick says. "But they stopped running on me, which makes zero sense because he's been the assist leader for three or four years."

If it's any consolation, Francoeur is now gunning 'em down for the El Paso Chihuahuas, a Padres' farm club.

Rawlings sponsors the Gold Glove and if a winner wears Rawlings, one of his own gloves is gold-plated. Reddick is a loyal Wilson guy, so his trophy is a generic Rawlings glove. And he doesn't get to wear a gold patch on his glove like the Rawlings-wearing winners get.

"I'm kind of jealous of that," Reddick says, but he won't switch.

Reddick wore a hole in the pocket of the glove he used the three previous seasons and it couldn't be patched, so he broke in a new gamer this spring. His break-in tip: Tie the glove with a ball in the pocket and soak it in warm water overnight. Play catch with it for two days, voila. To keep the leather soft and clean, Reddick rubs the glove with Albolene, a face-cleaner.

You kids, one more tip. If you want to develop that acrobatic, daredevil skill, do what Reddick did as a kid. He went out in the back yard by himself, throwing a ball into the air and making fantastic diving grabs. Death To Flying Things.